


Sitting With You

by FanGirl09



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Caring Harry Potter, Character Death, Crying, Crying Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy Needs a Hug, Duelling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Lucius Malfoy Dies, M/M, Traumatized Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:29:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23710792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanGirl09/pseuds/FanGirl09
Summary: Moody takes class too far one day in fourth year, and Lucius Malfoy ends up dead on the grass. Harry takes off after Draco and sits with him as he breaks down.Not explicitly Drarry, but it can be.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 97





	Sitting With You

Fourth year wasn’t short in the surprise department. Nor the drama one either. Not only was Harry involved in the tri-wizard tournament, but Professor Moody had taken it upon himself to take the class on outings on the grounds to practice or observe duels, curses, and dangerous creatures. Sometimes he brought in teachers on their prep period or people who had fought in the first wizarding war. Today they were heading out to the grounds after he took attendance, watch a duel between Moody and a parent who’d fought in the war.

After the professor called out the last name on his list, he stood from his desk. “Alright, let’s head down near the Black Lake. I’d like you all to watch closely to the tactics used to both inflict and deflect harm. You need to know how it is inflicted in order to defend yourselves. Let’s head out.”

Harry and Ron joined Hermione in the corridor, the class chattering as they made their way through the castle. She turned to the two of them, clutching the strap of her book bag. “Who do you think he’s brought in today?”

Harry shrugged, eyeing the Slytherins marching in front of them. “Dunno.”

“Whoever it is,” Ron chuckled, “It’ll be fun to watch Moody beat the shit out of them.”

“Ronald!”

“What? C’mon ‘Mione… you wouldn’t find it at least a little entertaining?”

She thought about it for a moment before a smile spread across her face. “I guess it would depend who he was dueling. If it was your dad, then probably not. But someone else’s… maybe.”

Harry chuckled, nodding ahead to where Moody was slowing. “How about him?”

Lucius Malfoy stood a few feet from Moody, long hair blowing up and around onto his shoulder in the breeze. As usual, he had his walking stick, inside of which was his wand. The class approached the two adults and stood in a semi-circle before them. Mr. Malfoy held a look of inferiority on his face, which subtly switched to disdain when he looked at certain students in the class. Upon seeing Draco he smiled, his lips forming a thin, curved line. “Hello, son.”

Draco nodded at him. “Hello, Father.”

“Alright, listen up everyone. Mr. Malfoy is here to discuss with you the effects of Dark Magic.”

Lucius nodded, taking in the group of students in front of him. “As you all know,” he began, “I am Lucius Malfoy. Tragic victim of the Imperious curse during the first Wizarding War. Now, He-Who-Must-Not -Be-Named used it on a lot of people and forced them into doing his bidding. The things some were forced to do were simply cruel and unfathomable to many. However, it is almost impossible to fight off the imperious curse, and many found themselves unable to take back control. I believe you have been shown its effects in class?” The class nodded. “Can anyone guess what would happen if you did manage to free yourself from the curse, or if you disobeyed while not under it’s effects?” He scanned them as he waited, silence incredibly loud. “The cruciatus curse. Which you have also seen. Some also were victims of the killing curse. But those are not the only three harmful curses, as you all know by this point in your education. There are many other harmful hexes and curses, which you need to be able to identify and deflect.”

Moody cleared his throat. “Which is why I have invited Mr. Malfoy here today. To show us… how he would’ve handled the Dark Lord if he could have…”

Lucius drew his brows together, eyeing Moody skeptically. Nonetheless, he turned to the students. “Back up, back up. Don’t want any of you getting hit with such… interestingly cruel magic.”

The group backed up and crowded together to watch the duel. Harry ended up wedged in between Ron and Draco. They all held their notebooks and a quill in front of them, ready to jot down anything of importance. Lucius and Moody bowed to each other, then headed apart, turning when they were ready to begin.

Lucius flicked his wand subtly, and a jet of red light shot towards Moody. Moody, as he had been teaching the class, swiped it away with his wand. He retaliated, “Confringo!”

Lucius cast a shield spell, then shouted, “Furnunculus!”

Moody cast a shield as well, however, the move he used to do it was different than they’d been taught. Beside Harry, Draco started writing in his notebook. He glanced over at the boy’s neat scrawl, trying to read how he described it. Grey eyes turned to him. “Write your own notes, Potter.”

Harry rolled his eyes, turning back to watch. It was Moody’s turn again. He had summoned some firewood from where Hagrid had been chopping some dead tree branches with an axe. They hovered in front of his face, then he mumbled. “Oppugno.”

They flew towards Lucius, who had to dive to the side. He rolled, eye flaring with anger. This was clearly not what he’d discussed with Moody. He dusted himself off, raised his wand, then simply flicked it. “Transmorgrify.”

Fury flashed in Moody’s eyes as he deflected the jinx. He drew his arm back and flicked it forward, as if he was using a whip. Then there was a shrill scream, a cry from beside him, the thump of a notebook hitting the ground, and a round of more screams from the class as the axe from Hagrid’s log pile buried itself in Lucius Malfoy’s skull. Moody’s jaw dropped. “That’s—that’s not the spell I cast—”

Lucius dropped to the ground, axe stuck in the bone, unmoving. A girl down the other end of the group was sick. Hermione had covered her eyes. Harry, however, couldn’t take his eyes off of the blood seeping down the man’s forehead. A man had just been murdered in the middle of class. Moody had finally taken it too far, if he hadn’t already.

Harry’s attention was drawn back to the class when he heard the name of the boy beside him. Many people were calling out to him and Harry just turned to look up into his face. Draco was standing completely still, eyes searching the sight of his father furiously, mouth open, notebook and quill on the ground at his feet. “Draco,” called Moody, and they boy’s eyes finally looked up at his Professor. “You are dismissed. Go back to your dorm. The rest of you, go sit in the clearing while I figure out what happened.”

Draco, shock evident on his face, didn’t move. The whole class was staring at him, and he gulped, eyes flitting back and forth repeatedly. “I’m fine,” he choked. “Really. I’m fine.” Then he turned on his heel and hurried back to the castle. The class continued to stare, completely flabbergasted. _What the hell just happened?_

Harry glanced down and realized that Draco hadn’t picked up his notebook. Sighing, he snatched it and the quill and ink from the grass, stuffed the smaller items in his pocket, then took off after Draco.

“Where are you going?” Ron called after him.

Harry simply held Draco’s things up in the air. “After Draco.” He followed the boy, who moved quickly, through the grounds and into the castle. He was quite a ways behind him, but lucky for Harry, he knew when the Slytherin common room was. He strode threw the castle, earning questioning looks from many ghosts and students on their free period. Eventually, Draco had rounded too many corners and was out of Harry’s sight. He kept walking, hoping that if he simply knocked on the door then he’d be let in.

As he slowed near the Slytherin common room, he contemplated if this was even a good idea. He hadn’t known why he’d followed so quickly. Draco had other friends that he could talk to, but Harry had just up and followed. He probably would just shove him out of the room, if he even opened the door in the first place. But Harry had lived and relived some horrible things… he’d lost his parents. Something inside him had told him to just follow Draco. He couldn’t make it better, but he could support him. At this point, he didn’t care who he was. What he had just witnessed is something no one should ever have to go through.

Stealing himself, Harry closed his fist and banged three times on the open expanse of brick. Shuffling approached, and the door opened slightly, revealing a tall, dark-haired girl in Slytherin robes. She raised her eyebrows. “What are you doing here, Potter?”

He held up Draco’s notebook and supplies. “These are Draco’s. I need to talk to him. Is he here?”

Her face softened and she opened the door a bit more, revealing a Prefect badge. “Why should I let you in to see him? He looks awful.”

“Listen. I don’t want any trouble. Something happened in class, he left his stuff, and I want to check on him. Can you please just let me in?”

She contemplated momentarily, then stepped aside so he could come in. He followed her into the common room, then down a staircase. She knocked on the door lightly. “Draco, there’s someone here to see you. I’m going to let them in.” She turned the knob, then pushed the door open slightly. She nodded at Harry and made a motion that said she had her eyes on him. He nodded at her gratefully.

He stepped tentatively into the dorm room, taking in the dark green curtains surrounding the beds, the grey stone floor, and the dark wood of the nightstands. A fire stood in the corner, adding more light. He took another step towards Draco, where he was sitting on the edge of his bed, facing away from Harry. His voice was tight when he spoke. “Go away, Pansy.”

Harry let out a breath. “I’m not Pansy.”

Draco turned slowly to look at Harry, confusion in his eyes. “What the hell do you want, Potter?”

“You left your stuff.” He walked over to Draco and handed him the notebook, quill, and ink. He only nodded at Harry, not making eye contact. Harry sat down on the bed next to Draco.

“What are you doing?”

“Sitting with you.”

“Why?”

“Because you shouldn’t have had to see that.”

“I’m fine,” he whispered. “I just don’t understand why. Not that it’s any of your business. Why do you care anyways?”

Harry looked over at him, examining the small portion of his face that Draco allowed him access to. “Because what just happened was awful. You just lost a parent for no reason that anybody understands, and it happened bloody, not ten feet from you.”

Draco’s voice wavered. “You shouldn’t be here.”

He rested a hand on Draco’s back, leaning forward in hopes that the other boy would look at him. He didn’t, only swallowed hard. “But I am. Because you shouldn’t have to be alone right now.”

Draco shrugged half-heartedly, jaw clenching and unclenching. “It doesn’t matter…”

Harry rubbed his hand up and down Draco’s back gently. “Yes it does.”

“You hate me.”

“I don’t hate you. But right now, none of that matters.” Draco said nothing, only continued to look away from Harry. Although he knew the answer, he decided to ask anyways. “Are you really okay, Draco?”

Draco’s back started to shake as his tears began to fall. His face fell and a sob tore from his throat. “I—I don’t understand. I… why…”

Harry’s chest tightened as he drew Draco towards him. “Let It out…”

The Slytherin didn’t object as Harry originally thought he would. Perhaps, he was still too in shock? Or perhaps, he really just needed somebody right now. Harry continued to rub his back as Draco sobbed into the crook of Harry’s neck, pain radiating through his body. “Why did I have to see that?”

“I don’t know, Draco,” Harry whispered. He tightened his hold on the blond, who was now pressed tightly against him.

“I c-can’t get it out of my he-ad.”

“You shouldn’t have had to see that… I know…”

“Why are you—”

“Shh,” he soothed, feeling the other boy’s cries jolting his chest. “I’m here for _you_ right now, okay? Nobody should have to go through what you just went through.”

“It’s not fair! It doesn’t make any sense!”

“I know,” he whispered, other hand on the back on the boy’s head, running his fingers through his white-blond hair. “I know, Draco… I’ve got you…”

On some level, Harry heard the door open behind him. He was aware that someone else, or even a few people, had come in. Understood that they were all seeing him comforting Draco, and probably were incredibly confused. But they said nothing. He couldn’t even hear them moving now. _Had he imagined it?_

Slowly, Draco started to calm. Harry held him close, their chests pressed together, and Harry could feel the settling of the other boy’s breathing. It was weird, having this intimate contact with Draco… but it wasn’t unpleasant. Mind you, it would have been a hundred times better if his father had not just died a gruesome death.

Draco pulled away and Harry released him. He was hiccoughing, wiping furiously at his eyes. A few tears still managed to escape, though, and they rolled down his face to his chin. Harry swiper them away with his thumb. His hand was cupping the other boy’s cheek as watery grey eyes stared up into his. “If you need someone, or you need to talk you can always come find me. Okay?” Draco nodded, closing his eyes with a shuddering breath.

“Does that mean you’re friends now?”

Both boys spun to face the person who had spoken. Pansy was grinning just inside the doorway, with Blaise, Ron, and Hermione by her side. They all looked concerned, and mildy amused.

“Uh…” Draco turned to Harry, blinking repeatedly.

Harry held out his hand. “We can work out the kinks later. But we can try. Friends?”

Draco nodded. “Friends.”

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know. I had a dream very similar to this last night and it wouldn't leave me alone so I wrote this. I don't usually write one-shots for Harry Potter, as you know if you've seen my account, because I have three multi-chapter Drarry stories on the go right now. But anyways, uh... here you go. I hope it was okay. :)


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